Why Does VP Pick Have To Be A Politician?

[Hissyspit]

Discuss.

[yardwork]

1. I wish they weren't, actually.

VP has to be qualified to be president. That lets out most politicians.

[FrenchieCat]

2. According to many dems on this board,

the Veep pick will be the Virgin Mary, cause no one else is pure enough! Seems like any little picadello makes us run to the hills and hide from the Republican onslaught coming. I find it rather comical coming from Democrats who like to complaint that Democrats have no spine......guess it is because those doing the voting of Democrats have no spine either. :rofl:

[Drunken Irishman]

8. WRONG! The Virgin Mary is a woman and that would be a slap in the face to Hillary and her supporters

[valerief]

16. Yeah, but she's a virgin. No sex scandals. nt

[offog]

19. Good point, FrenchieCat!

Dems shouldn't "run to the hills" over "any little peccadillo". I don't care that much about peccadilloes in principle. Conservative peccadilloes kinda bother me because those guys are always trying to label the Democrats as the party of loose morals, and tell everyone else not to fool around. But the Edwards "scandal" doesn't bother me at all.
I remember the big scandal over Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky (did I spell that right?). The MSM and pundits were making a big fuss over it and saying that Clinton would be forced to resign any day. At the same time, polls showed that most voters were pretty ho-hum about it.
I was working at a laundromat while all this was going on, and people seem to talk to laundromat attendants the way they talk to bartenders. One day I was chatting with one of my regulars, a young woman who's a devout Christian. We were watching a TV news item on the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, and she said "Why don't they just leave the poor guy alone?"
The point I want to make is Dems shouldn't panic so much about little peccadilloes because the ordinary voters don't care nearly as much about that stuff as the Repugs would have you believe.

[Avalux]

3. He doesn't. Wes Clark!

He was a terrible presidential candidate with no previous political experience and would make a great VP. :kick:

[Hissyspit]

5. How about college professor, university president, other discipline, business leader, etc.

I don't understand the assumption about politicians.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. good point. McCain would do well to pick someone a little more even tempered than he:

[valerief]

6. Stephen Colbert keeps dropping hints, you know. nt

[Hissyspit]

9. Why the hell not? Bush and Cheney have lowered the bar so low, anyone would be better.

[DainBramaged]

7. How about a comedian?

[valerief]

10. Let's make it official--chairman of the board of ExxxxxxxxonMobil. nt

[Hissyspit]

11. Talk about 'Keep Your Enemies Closer.' n/t

[OmahaBlueDog]

12. Strangely, I think that's a more popular Republican notion

In the party where the government can do no right, the notion of a CEO VP from outside politics (Whitman, Fiorina) is quite popular.

He wouldn't take the job for love nor money, but if BO could talk Warren Buffet (D - Omaha, Palm Beach, and many other places) onto the ticket, he'd likely make signifigant headway in GOP circles.

[DFLforever]

13. Because s/he has to prove they can win and hold elected office.

That accomplishment trumps any other experience a candidate may offer.

It's not something anyone can do. In fact it's a talent very few have.

Neither political party would risk running a candidate at the presidential level who lacked those political skills.

[valerief]

15. Or steal it. nt

[Hippo_Tron]

18. The Republicans did in 1952 and it worked out pretty well for them

[DFLforever]

20. That was a long time ago and Ike was elected to end a war.

for which he was more than qualified.

[valerief]

21. Police action.

In the United States, the conflict was officially termed a police action — the Korean Conflict — rather than a war, largely in order to avoid the necessity of a declaration of war by the U.S. Congress.

[LeftishBrit]

14. Because they'll become president if anything happens to the elected president?

[Hissyspit]

17. And...?

[democrat2thecore]

35. It might help to have been in politics - to be - you know, president? -nt

[BlooInBloo]

22. Why do politicians have to be politicians? Oh gawd.

[tinrobot]

23. Why do professional golfers have to play golf so well?

[SheilaT]

24. And most politicians

are lawyers, so the subset is even narrower.

However, one of the reasons Bush has been so incredibly awful may well be because he got an MBA not a JD. He tried to run this country like he ran every other business he was in charge of, which was to run it to the ground.

[PassingFair]

25. In the event that the President is unable to carry out his duties...

the Vice President will wear the crown.

[Hissyspit]

37. An academic couldn't do that? A business leader couldn't do that?

[TahitiNut]

26. For the same reason a spare tire has to fit the wheel.

:shrug:

[Hissyspit]

27. So a professional diplomat can't be VP?

[Naturyl]

28. It's a politcal office.

Why do all surgeons have to be doctors?

[Hissyspit]

29. That's a falsely equivalent analogy.

Not the same thing at all.

[Naturyl]

30. Says you.

A medical procedure (surgery) requires a medical professional. Political matters require political professionals. If they weren't politicians to begin with, they will be as soon as they assume the duties of the office.

[Hissyspit]

31. There is plenty of history of people serving in public elected office without having been a

professional politician.

You can't become a doctor without a large amount of specific educational process and specific standardized legal certification.

Apples and oranges.

[Naturyl]

33. K, whatever.

Not gonna argue this any further.

[Motown_Johnny]

32. Because of the 2 responsibilities placed on the VP by our Constitution

To become President if the current President is not able to perform his/her duties


To preside over the Senate




Defiantly need a politician for the first one, kinda need one for the second one.

[Hissyspit]

36. You offer no proof. Why does the President have to be a professional politician?

[Ramonna Villota]

34. That would be

a real change and a goooooood change